Mercedes Benz will partner with the world’s largest esports company, ESL. This new cooperation will include tournament sponsorships across several global markets. The first event that will be sponsored as part of this new partnership will be one of ESL’s flagship events, ESL One Hamburg 2017 – a Dota 2 tournament with a Major status and a prize pool of €1,000,000.

The engagement is part of Mercedes-Benz’s sponsoring- and marketing portfolio’s new strategic direction. After its entry into formula E, the company thus gives another impulse in a future-oriented field. Double-digit growth rates, sold out stadiums across the globe, yearly prize pools of over 100 Million Euros and almost 500 Million streaming hours watched per month all show the increasing significance of esports.

According to Newzoo’s 2017 Global Esports Market Report, global esports awareness will increase from 1.1 billion in 2016 to 1.3 billion in 2017, and will approach 1.8 billion by the year 2020. With this rapidly growing global audience, esports is quickly becoming a prime target industry for brand involvement and integration. Mercedes-Benz aims to capture the opportunity of reaching engaged fans.

Dr. Jens Thiemer, Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars: "Our wide-ranging international commitment to sport allows us to accommodate the interests of our diverse target groups. As a brand, we maintain close contact with our customers, are able to build up empathy and to become an accepted part of their world. We have been following the extremely fast-growing eSports segment for some time now and are firmly of the opinion that this new involvement will complement our existing sports sponsoring activities with an eye on the future and allow us to make contact with a very interesting, new target group."

Ralf Reichert, CEO of ESL: „We are thrilled to partner with Mercedes-Benz as the premiere automotive brand. This partnership represents an important step not only for us but for the whole esports industry - allowing us to explore exciting mobility solutions for the fans and players across the world, growing esports together, and getting it to the next level.”